Month: February 2014

The federal agency that backstops Canada’s housing market will make an announcement Friday that could affect the mortgage market and home buyers.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is tight-lipped about what, exactly, it is planning to unveil Friday. But CMHC did confirm to CBC News that an announcement is in the pipeline. A spokeswoman for the agency declined to offer any specifics, however.

MAP: House prices across Canada The news will come out at 11 a.m. ET on Friday but exactly what’s coming is anyone’s guess.

The Globe and Mail speculated Thursday that the announcement could be related to the premiums homeowners must pay to get CMHC insurance. ‘Hiking premiums would be a strong move.’— RateSupermarket.ca president Kelvin Mangaroo

Under current rules, any prospective homeowner who makes a down payment of less than 20 per cent of the purchase price has to pay for CMHC insurance for their mortgage. That premium varies from anywhere between 0.5 per cent and 2.75 per cent of the price, depending on the size of the down payment.

According to the latest data available, the average Canadian home costs $388,553. A would-be buyer of that home with only five per cent down would need to pay the maximum CMHC premium — an extra $10,685 in that example.

“Imagine somebody looking to buy a house, all of a sudden having to pay a one per cent increase to 3.75 per cent?” Kelvin Mangaroo, the president of RateSupermarket.ca told CBC News Thursday.

“I could see them wanting to do something around the fringes of the market … but hiking premiums would be a strong move,” Mangaroo said.

Homeowners pay the premium, but the beneficiary of that insurance isn’t the homeowner. Rather, it protects the lender if the homeowner defaults on the loan. Ottawa caps mortgages at 25 years

Those premiums haven’t been raised since the 1990s — a time when the typical Canadian home cost less than half what it does today — and were lowered in 2005

Because it’s backed by the federal government, CMHC controls the lion’s share of the market in Canada. But it also competes with private insurers such as Genworth Financial and Canada Guarantee. Both those companies tend to match whatever CMHC charges, because they lack the size or scale to effectively compete on price.

Any move to increase premiums would be good for CMHC and its competitors’ bottom lines, something investors seemed to pick up on Thursday: Genworth shares were up more than three per cent on the TSX Thursday, despite the company having no other news.

Insurers should theoretically be charging more to guard against default, not only because they’re being asked to cover more valuable homes, and more homes overall, but also because the rules have also been repeatedly tightened in recent years as to how much they have to keep on hand to cover losses.

On the consumer side, the federal government has acted numerous times to rein in the mortgage market in recent years by tinkering with CMHC’s rules, lowering the maximum amortization period from 40 years at one time down to 25 today.

Ottawa has also increased the minimum amount that a homeowner has on hand before being legally allowed to buy a house. Today the CMHC’s minimum down payment is five per cent, but it was briefly zero not that long ago.

Mangaroo says it’s possible that Friday’s news will be something like increasing the minimum down payment requirement again — maybe up to 10 per cent — but he thinks it will be something much less drastic.

Others agree. “I don’t see any changes to mortgage rules,” Ben Rabidoux, president of market research firm North Cove Advisors Inc. told CBC News. “You could also see some move to ‘level the playing field’ with the private mortgage insurers by forcing a risk weighting on CMHC-insured mortgages or something like that.”

As the nation’s lead advocate for quality nutrition in schools, they provide:

nutrition grants that allow programs to obtain food, equipment and staff required to meet the needs of their school community; child nutrition education resources and tools to help raise awareness and educate communities about proper nutrition; research to support the vital link between child nutrition and learning; and a strong voice for child nutrition that advocates for national meal program in Canada and quality nutrition in schools.

We know that through feeding hungry children, we also nurture strong minds and provide students with the best chance of success possible.

When a child is hungry, it’s hard to learn. A healthy breakfast provides children with the necessary fuel to get off to a bright start each morning, and nutritious meals and snacks throughout the day keeps them energized so they can stay alert and engaged in class. Studies show that well-nourished students have improved memory, problem-solving skills and creative abilities – overall, they perform better in school. Yet, in Canada we have some startling facts:

One in ten children in Canada live below the poverty line and this is only one of the many reasons children go to school hungry each day; 31% of elementary school and 62% of secondary school students do not eat a healthy breakfast daily; Childhood obesity rates, Type 2 diabetes and other health-related issues continue to rise; and still Canada remains one of the few developed countries without a national nutrition program for children.

With a challenging economy and rising food costs, child nutrition programs across the country face the daunting challenge of meeting the needs of their school community on already tight budgets.

In 2010/11 Breakfast for Learning was only able to grant 28% of the funds requested for breakfast, lunch and snack programs, meaning thousands of children went to school without a healthy meal or snack. Help Dominion Lending Centres on our quest to fill the gap and provide Breakfast for Learning all the necessary funds to run their much needed programs.

Breakfast for Learning is a strong, national voice for child nutrition programs in Canada. Together with our nationwide organization of employees, Members and Partners, child nutrition professionals, partners and supporters, and our network of over 30,000 volunteers across the country, we help provide nutritious foods in caring, community-centred programs. For more information, please visit www.breakfastforlearning.ca

In 2012 Darick Battaglia helped raise over $14,000 at a local charity event. www.darick.ca Mortgage broker in Barrie

Buying her first house and getting her first mortgage was an overwhelming experience for Roslyn Judd.

She had signed a deal to buy a new house, she had put down her deposit, and she was pre-approved for a mortgage. Now she had to sign a final deal with her bank to lend her hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“I had never applied for a mortgage before and I found that [to be]the most intimidating part of the home-buying process, so I was procrastinating,” she says. “I think it was the enormity of the money that you are asking somebody to lend you.”

Then a friend in the building where she works suggested she check out her company’s website,

So she did, and her mortgage broker was able to get her a deal with a seasoned lender whose rate was much better than what her bank had offered.

“It was the best because it was so personal,” she says. “It was like someone was holding your hand all the way through the process.”

Rona Birenbaum, a certified financial planner with Caring for Clients in Toronto, recommends all her clients seek the help of a mortgage broker when it comes time to buy a house, or refinance or renew a mortgage.

“It’s the most efficient way to get the best-priced and best-structured mortgage,” she says. “Bottom line.”

“So rather than shopping at multiple financial institutions and negotiating with each financial institution and arm wrestling them to give you the best deal, it’s one phone call and they do the rest for you.”

a mortgage broker can help you with all aspects of a mortgage, from figuring out how much you can truly afford, to determining the best mortgage product for you, to finding ways to save you money and pay off your mortgage faster.

In addition, you should expect your mortgage broker to review your mortgage a few times a year to see how you can pay it off faster, whether it’s still the right product for you, and if it’s still competitive. “It’s very rare that you’re going to get that service from a bank,” he says.

For people who are inexperienced with negotiating, who aren’t sure what the best mortgage product is for them or have a less-than-stellar credit rating, they can save time, money and hassle by using a mortgage broker, says Ms. Birenbaum.

“For the average person who would maybe not feel comfortable negotiating, who might feel as though they are not in the position to ask for a better rate, they definitely will [save]” she says. “A half per cent over a 20-year mortgage, is tens of thousands of dollars. It could be potentially huge money.”

But those interested in using a mortgage broker need to do some research, says Ms. Birenbaum.

The brokers she recommends are people with whom she has developed a professional relationship, and she knows they will do a good job because they’ve worked with her clients.

“There’s a wide range of experience, qualifications and quality in this particular industry,” she says. “So reputation and experience are extremely important.”

People ask their financial adviser to recommend a mortgage broker, or they can turn to others who recommend their broker.

Mortgage brokers are regulated provincially so you can check with your provincial regulator on the website for the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals. The organization also has an online directory that can help your search for a broker.

“Like every industry there are rookies, so be careful when researching your broker, get a good idea about their experience before proceeding,” he suggests.

Many brokers now do the bulk of their work online, and that’s not an issue as long as there’s enough communication with the client either via e-mail or over the phone – and their online application process is secure.

“To be honest, the majority of our clients don’t leave their living room, and I don’t blame them,” he says.

If a broker asks for a retainer of any sort or any payment made out to them personally, that should be a warning sign, Ms. Birenbaum says.

Mortgage brokers are paid their fee by the lender, not by the person who is using the mortgage broker’s service, says Mr. Johnson. “There’s no cost for the client.” Be aware though, whether you’re doing a new mortgage, a refinancing or renewal, to ask whether there are any legal or appraisal fees, he says. Legal fees for a new mortgage can be about $1,000, but sometimes a lender may cover both legal and appraisal fees; you just have to ask.

Right now, one of the big questions for those looking for a mortgage is whether to go for a fixed or variable mortgage, While historically variable mortgages have had better rates than fixed mortgages, that’s not necessarily the case right now.

“Any time the fixed and variable rates are very close I do recommend going fixed and they are close right now,” he says. Up until recently about 90 per cent of the mortgages he arranged were variable, but now more are fixed.

followed by Burrard Street in Vancouver and 2nd Street SW in Calgary, says a report by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).

“Location is everything,” says Brett Miller, president of JLL. “As the Canadian market continues to strengthen, we are seeing that companies are increasingly willing to pay higher rental rates in order to be in prestigious locations.”

The most expensive streets fall into financial, retail or government hubs that are highly prominent and competition to get space is growing, the company says.

The most expensive streets for office space in Canada (asking rents) The most expensive streets for office space in Canada (asking rents):

1. Bay Street, Toronto, $73.54 p.s.f. Bay Street topped the list for the third year running in the annual survey. The street spans through both the heart of Toronto’s financial district and Yorkville, a high-end shopping district.

:2. Burrard Street, Vancouver, $65.91 p.s.f. Burrard Street has moved up since 2012, when it took third place. With increased office asking prices of nearly $4 p.s.f., the street is a centre point of downtown.

3. 2nd Street SW, Calgary, $59.72 p.s.f. This street made the list for the first time this year, succeeding last year’s 8th Avenue SW. Located in Calgary’s financial district, it is home to some of Calgary’s tallest buildings.

4. Albert Street, Ottawa, $53.40 p.s.f. Albert Street held its fourth-place position from 2012, after dropping from second in 2011. The street is central to many government towers and facilities.

5. 101st Street NW, Edmonton, $57.25 p.s.f. 101st Street NW kept its position of fifth place. With retail and office space available, the area is appealing to a variety of tenants.

6. René-Lévesque W, Montreal, $57.04 p.s.f. René-Lévesque W. has maintained its position from 2012. Acting as a thoroughfare, the street is lined with numerous high-rise office towers.

7. Upper Water Street, Halifax, $35.83 p.s.f. Upper Water Street has maintained seventh place from 2012, after moving up from 9th place in 2011. Located on Halifax’s waterfront, it is home to large office complexes.

8. Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, $36.36 p.s.f. Portage Avenue has kept its position in eighth place since 2012. It acts as a thoroughfare, connecting east and west ends of Winnipeg.

9. Laurier Boulevard, Québec City, $31.00 p.s.f. Laurier Boulevard took the ninth place position. Known for its retail, the street also acts as a main artery in the city.

Typical commission paid is 2.5% of the selling price to the listing agent and 2.5% to the buyer’s agent. It is not uncommon for these commissions to be negotiated to something much less especially in a hot real estate market where properties sell quickly.

It is a great idea to have three competing agents present their listing packages to you before you make a decision to sell your home. Each one should provide a free home market evaluation as well as detail added services they will provide that may separate them from the completion such as free home staging, open house schedule, a budget for advertising, extra paid staff to offer assistance or just simply a no frills low commission strategy.

“Anyone who has even a passing interest in the real estate market has seen or heard the term MLS®. But few consumers know exactly what MLS® is, or understand the important role it plays in the real estate industry. The MLS® system, also known as the Multiple Listing Service® is a complex information-sharing and cooperative marketing network created by REALTORS® found at Realor.ca, several decades ago to help the public buy and sell homes. While it is computer based today, it began as an exchange of paper listing information and photographs.

The Multiple Listing Service® or MLS® is a member based service, paid for by the REALTOR® members of the local real estate Board. The MLS® mark symbolizes the cooperation among REALTORS® to effect the purchase and sale of real estate, and is much more than a database of property information. It is the local real estate Board that actually administers and operates the local MLS® system. The Canadian Real Estate Association owns the trademark, and licences its use to Boards and Associations across Canada.

The MLS® service makes the real estate industry unique by encouraging a high degree of cooperation among salespeople. For example, if you’re shopping for a car and you visit a local dealer, the salesperson’s goal is to sell you a car from that car lot. They won’t provide you with information on cars available at other competing dealerships. In the real estate industry, the opposite is true. The MLS® service allows for cooperation between all REALTORS® no matter which company they work for.

If you are selling a property, listing with a REALTOR® who uses the MLS® service means your property gets maximum marketing exposure to all other members of the local Board. You’ll have REALTORS® everywhere trying to find a buyer for your property. It is the MLS® computer system that will provide other members of the real estate Board with detailed information about your property.

If you are buying a property, the MLS® system is a valuable research tool for your REALTOR®. They’ll input the criteria you want and generate a list of all properties that meet your needs. These homes might be listed by other REALTORS® from five or ten other companies – to your REALTOR®, it doesn’t matter. Their goal is to help you find the property you want. The MLS® system supplements the in-depth knowledge the REALTOR® has of the neighbourhood and current market conditions to help you make a wise buying decision.

The MLS® system provides REALTORS® with access to much more detailed information than you’ll find on a web site. MLS® information will include room-by-room measurements and specifics on the property condition, renovations, property zoning and rental rates. Through the system, REALTORS® can also access the sales history of a home in order to see how many times it has changed hands and at what prices.”

Caution: This site may not include all properties offered for sale in the City and neighbourhood you may be interested in and may not be the only place a consumer is searching for properties for sale. Here are a few other sites for consideration.

www.propertyguys.com

They offer seller packages that start at $99 upwards to including services that will list your property on the MLS realtor website.

In their own words;

“We’re not your parents’ real estate company We’re not agents or brokers. We’re something different – something much better.” Better because we can save you thousands of dollars. Better because we come to your home to show you how our program works. Better because we can take all your listing photos right when you sign up so it can go live lickety-split – if that is what you would like. Because YOU are in the driver’s seat of the sale of your home all the way to the finish line – after we share our recipe for success with you, of course! Better because – it works! With over 50,000 users already through our program and offices all across Canada, you can trust that we’ve become really good at what we do.

Our program helps sellers get their property SOLD and costs much less than using a traditional agent. Instead of commission, we charge an affordable flat fee (that’s not affected by your selling price) for a customizable marketing plan that suits your needs. You’ll get a bold round lawn sign, a detailed listing, online management tools, and lots more. And when your property sells, we collect absolutely nothing. Not a penny. Your marketing plan will include the zesty and enticing combination of local, enthusiastic and informative PropertyGuys.com professionals plus unbeatable technology and tools that has been proven to work time and time again.

Wikipedia …PropertyGuys.com Inc. is a Canadian private sale real estate, or FSBO, marketing company based in Moncton, New Brunswick. With 123 franchise locations across Canada and more than 10,000 active listings on its site, it is the largest private home sale network in North America.[1][2][3] The firm acts as the marketing arm for people who want to handle the heavy lifting themselves, such as showing the home, fielding calls from potential buyers, negotiating price and other details

PropertyGuys.com does not collect a commission on homes sold using their services.[4] The company is negotiating agreements to enter the U.S. market

PropertyGuys.com is a member of the Canadian Franchise Association.[5] PropertyGuys.com CEO, Ken LeBlanc, sits on the Canadian Franchise Association’s Board of Directors as one of two Atlantic Region Representatives

www.comfree.com

like Propertyguys.com, comfree.com offers private sale services along with the ability to list your home on the MLS system. The services are very similar to propertyguys.com

www.zoocasa.com

If you are they type that does not like to negotiate commissions than this site may be for you as it handles the referral process and offers discounts on commission built in.

Zoocasa, an upstart real estate company owned by Rogers Communications, has launched a revamped website that aims to compete with Realtor.ca, Canada’s dominant listings site, by presenting property listings in a more user-friendly format and connecting clients with realtors from major agencies.

The website draws on the same MLS database (so far, only for Toronto) used by sites like Realtor.ca, which is run by the Canadian Real Estate Association. What distinguishes Zoocasa, says company president Carolyn Beatty, is the way it presents that data.

The site tries to make data easy to find and use by integrating information about the neighbourhood — demographics, average income, housing prices and availability — with each listing, using catchy, colourful graphics.

“We did some research on what really matters to consumers — things like size of visuals, the ability to look at a Street View of each of the listings, the way that the data is presented on the page so it’s a lot easier for people to digest it and understand it,” Beatty said. “It’s a variety of different things that we believe all, ultimately, add up to an experience that is fundamentally designed with the consumer in mind.” Consumer experience is focus of site

Zoocasa has branded itself as a consumer-oriented site that, because it doesn’t have its own agents, can focus all its energies on making the house hunting or selling experience as painless as possible for the people doing the buying and selling.

“We don’t have any sort of constraints vis-à-vis a site that’s operated by a trade association; we are strictly focused on the consumer,” said Lawrence Dale, Zoocasa’s group head of real estate business.

An example shows the neighbourhood information that appears with a property listing on Zoocasa.com. It lists everything from average income in the area to which ethnic groups live there. (Zoocasa.com)

Earlier this year, Zoocasa obtained brokerage licences in six provinces (Alberta, B.C., Ontario and the Maritimes, and it intends to get licensed in all regions eventually) and became a member of the major real estate boards so that it could access MLS listings across the country. Prior to that, it had existed — since 2008 — primarily as a search site that had arrangements with specific brokers and agents who got additional exposure by posting their clients’ properties on the site.

The company says the site had more than six million unique visitors last year.

Along with opening up the whole range of MLS listings, the new Zoocasa site will also recommend specific real estate agents in the areas where consumers are looking. The agents are vetted by Zoocasa and come from a range of established agencies, including big national names like Re/Max and Century 21 and smaller, local independents like Harvey Kalles. “We’re looking for a top agent — to us, what that means is they’re experienced, they’re service-focused, they have local knowledge in the areas that they’re purporting to have expertise [in] and they’re productive,” Dale said.Those who use the services of a recommended agent can rate and review that agent on the site.

Referral fees for Zoocasa, rebates for users

Agents can’t buy their way onto the recommended list, Dale said, and the company only makes money once an agent makes a sale.

The agents pay a referral fee to Zoocasa that is equivalent to the industry standard of roughly 35 per cent of the commission they make, which in Toronto is about 2.5 per cent of the selling price, Dale said.

Zoocasa passes some of that on to consumers by giving a rebate to those who use an agent recommended on the site. The rebate is equivalent to about 15 per cent of the commission — although some of the rebate will come in the form of gift cards for businesses such as Home Depot, Canadian Tire or Best Buy.

A house that sold for $400,000 would generate a $1,500 rebate, about $200 of which would come in the form of gift cards, Dale said.

Other sites, such as CommissionPitch, BidComHomes and iBidBroker, are already employing similar models of connecting customers and agents and putting the client at the centre of the house hunting and selling process by offering rebates, competitive commissions and having agents bid for their business.

More pressure to provide detailed real estate data

These type of sites are getting more attention as the underlying business model of how real estate is sold and what kind of housing data is available to the public is coming under greater scrutiny — largely thanks to a case launched by the Competition Bureau two years ago.

The federal agency argued before the Competition Tribunal that the Toronto Real Estate Board should allow its members to provide more detailed housing information — such as demographic data and historical pricing information — to their clients and has appealed a ruling by the tribunal, which had dismissed the case earlier this year.

Dale said if the Competition Bureau is successful in its appeal and more information does become available, Zoocasa will happily post it on its site.

Zoocasa was last in the news about two years ago when it launched Zoopraisal, a feature that allows you to estimate the market value of a given property. The service, which is run by Centract, came under some criticism from the Appraisal Institute of Canada, which argued that property owners should have to consent to their home appraisals being circulated online.

But Dale said the company stands by the feature and considers it just another way of helping people navigate their way through a real estate transaction.www.kijiji.ca and www.ebay.com

These sites offer free basic no frills catalogue listing of your home along with other items you may have for sale. Sometimes real estate agents will also list your home for sale on these sites along with mls services as an add on.

forums such as http://forums.redflagdeals.com/archive/index.php/t-1201507.html offer real reviews by actual users of these services. It may be a good idea to read these before you make a decision to make sure it is right for you.

What Would I do?

Today I would use the services of a real estate professional and engage A broker or agent with a reputable firm. This would be with Someone who I have screened, been referred to, and have listened to their listing presentation. I would marry this with the use of the above mentioned private sale companies. If I happened to find a property for sale that was not on the MLS I would ask my agent to contact the home owner to try and negotiate the purchase for me in exchange of the home owner paying my realtor a fee.

In addition I would get approved for a new mortgage using the services of a mortgage broker. A mortgage broker will offer unbiased advice, the lowest mortgage rates in the industry and professional free service. It’s free because they are paid as subcontractor by the lender/bank that you accept the mortgage from. Darick Battaglia is a licensed mortgage broker and also includes licensing and education as a Real estate broker and Canadian real estate appraiser. In addition Darick has been involved in commercial and residential infill projects and has helped build one of Canada’s newest banks known as Canadian First Bank by sitting on the inaugural board of directors. Darick’s 30 year history in the industry will help ensure that you receive professional advice like no other.

•The Minister of Finance has reduced the amount of new guarantees that CMHC is authorized to provide under its 2014 securitization programs to $80 billion for market National Housing Act Mortgage Backed Securities and to $40 billion for Canada Mortgage Bonds.

• A new legislative framework for covered bonds is now in effect. This framework has created a fully private source of funding using only uninsured mortgages as collateral. It has been recognized internationally for its high standards. Since July 2013, Canadian lenders have successfully issued more than $14 billion in covered bonds in three different currencies.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says it’s been a long road back from the Great Depression but it’s important to balance the books so Canada can weather future economic storms. He also says he knows the books could be balanced in fiscal 2014 but he thinks it’s important to keep back an emergency fund and have a “nice clean” surplus for the following year.

Here are some summarized highlites for you to review

The budget also said it would raise public awareness on high interest rates charged by payday lenders, even though the provinces have jurisdiction to regulate payday loans.

It also promised to protect borrowers who choose a collateral charge mortgage, such as one that includes a line-of-credit, instead of a standard mortgage, noting they may find it hard to switch between lenders.

“….In other words, it’s boosting excise taxes on tobacco that will increase the price of a carton of 200 cigarettes by four dollars.”

The Conservatives say they’ll also crack down on money laundering and terrorist financing, and assert Canada’s claim to the North Pole.

And it says interest rates aren’t expected to rise until the second half of next year. Flaherty says the forecast is based on an average of predictions made by private sector economists.

The government also says it will spend 631-million dollars over two years to advance the construction of a new bridge linking Detroit with Windsor, Ontario. he budget also proposes lowering credit card acceptance costs for merchants, but doesn’t say how.

And it promises unspecified measures to crack down on payday loan operators and to expand no-cost banking to the disabled and vulnerable seniors.

Among the new tools in the Conservatives’ skills-training arsenal is the creation of the Canada Apprentice Loan, an expansion of the Canada Student Loans Program. The fund will provide apprentices in so-called Red Seal trades with access to more than 100-million dollars in interest-free loans every year to help them pay for their training. At least 26-thousand apprentices per year are expected to apply. The federal government is starting from scratch in its attempts to get immigrants with money to invest in Canada.

As part of the federal budget, the government says it will eliminate the Immigrant Investor and Entrepreneur programs.

In their place, the Conservatives are proposing an Investor Venture Capital Fund pilot project that it hopes will encourage immigrants to make real and significant investments in the Canadian economy.

Applications received by the government before today that haven’t been processed are being returned, along with the fees paid by applicants.

Tuesday’s budget, the federal government promised to address the long-standing U.S.-Canadian price gap issue, but it isn’t ordering an immediate lowering of prices or the elimination of certain tariffs.

As well, the government says it will work with financial institutions to expand “no-cost” basic banking services, especially for youth, students and vulnerable groups, though it offered no specifics.

Call us to learn more about mortgages, the services of a mortgage broker and to obtain best mortgage rates in Barrie

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There are generally two ways to get a mortgage in Canada: From a bank or from a licensed mortgage professional.

While a bank only offers the products from their particular institution, licensed mortgage professionals send millions of dollars in mortgage business each year to Canada’s largest banks, credit unions, trust companies, and financial institutions; offering their clients more choice, and access to hundreds of mortgage products! As a result, clients benefit from the trust, confidence, and security of knowing they are getting the best mortgage for their needs.

Whether you’re purchasing a home for the first time, taking out equity from your home for investment or pleasure, or your current mortgage is simply up for renewal, it’s important that you are making an educated buying decision with professional unbiased advice.